Eric

Chapter 14

Countdown

I left a half hour later with my mind back in order. When I caught Thalia's scent at the door that calm turned to dust. Jealousy and anger infused my spine like steel. Then I got a flash of clarity. Thalia needed to speak with me. That was why she had followed me.

"What is it?" I asked, shutting the door behind me.

"Pam."

She didn't have anything to tell me. Pam had sent her a message telling her to pull me from the meeting. I should have known her timing had been too perfect. I was angry at Pam but as with my previous ire, it wasn't deserved. She had done exactly what I would have, if my mind had been clear. The information she divulged to André was all limited to things that he would have found out eventually. I shouldn't want to shred her for it but I also couldn't help the way I felt.

"She feels it too, but it is nothing compared to the potency you experience. I think is because the mating is rooted to us, our nature, our magic."

I shook my head. "I can barely track her even though she has my blood."

She nodded. "You also won't be able to form a blood bond."

I had more questions but I didn't interrupt again. Thalia was talking and I knew it wouldn't last long. "Emotions you forgot existed are now rivers of fire in your body," She told me. "None of them are like the passion for her. Lust now consumes everything else in your mind. For the first few months you won't able to fight it. Don't try; it will make you a hazard."

She ran a hand over the back of her neck. It was a very human gesture to show discomfort, displayed by her; I had no idea what it meant.

"After that phase passes, you can think and walk straight. You may even be able to walk away if you fight hard enough."

In another part of my mind I was registering relief that this blinding haze was temporary and that there was a choice. It registered but not fully. For the first time since she became a resident of my Area I saw something other than her scowl or fatal smile. This expression was worse than both combined. I saw the bright green of her eyes but the utter listlessness to them was evident. She was undead but it didn't change the fact that she was half alive, if that.

"Is that what you did?" I asked.

"I should have." Then she was gone.

If I could feel it then I knew she could too. The glow of the moon was weaker. Dawn was fast approaching. We had to be the only two vampires out and about at this hour. Thalia left and with a parting glance back at the little house behind me, I did the same.

The pull of the sun provided physical relief from the constant uproar of emotion. Never before have I welcomed and hated the sun as much. Emotionally, I was consumed with worry. While I was dead for the day I wouldn't know if Sookie was hurt. She might be dead come first dark. I knew I wasn't myself, I knew I was being drastic, but it made no difference.

"This is Eric," I said, greeting the Alpha who owed me many favors and many more dollars. I gave him Sookie's address. "I want three of yours on her until dark." I could expand the patrol in the area to include her home. "Don't crowd or annoy, just keep her safe."

"For how long?" He asked.

"Until forever," I replied.

He didn't dare complain. The total of what he owed me meant I owned him. This didn't settle us, not even a little. He had a gambling appetite but he lacked the sense to tell him it was turning to a problem. I wasn't going to tell him. Having control of an Alpha meant I owned the Pack. It made things easier when it came to navigating the lines between our supernatural species. Right now, none of that mattered. He would keep my mate safe until I was able to do it on my own.

My fan base at the bar was such that I had to put in at least twenty hours a week. Fulfilling that had never before felt like a punishment but it did now. It had been two days since I last saw Sookie. I might have been able to function, but knowing of and feeling her own desire was driving me damn near out of my mind.

I was a hazard. In those two days, I'd struck two humans at the club. Clancy, one of my Area residents, walked just a little too close to me the other night, I was putting him through his car windshield before I even decided why he deserved such a thing. The day before that, I almost strangled Bobby, my dayman, to death.

The Weres had no update to provide other than that she was safe. I was trying to make myself believe that it was enough but even as I had the thought I knew I was being delusional. This deprivation was a different kind of hell. With every day that passed it was as if my skin was being stretched too tightly over my muscles. My bones felt like stone. I was a fucking mess.

Day three, I began working to recognize and control the triggers of my mood swings but that too was useless. I was a raw nerve. Luckily, few had reason to approach me so I was able to hide it. Internally, the storm raged. I knew I wouldn't last another night. I also knew that Pam was going to confront me. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do about that either.

"How long am I to pretend that you are not losing your shit?" She asked. "How am I supposed to preserve this Area without your help?"

Pam had literally planted herself in the doorway. I wanted to feel something other than the irritation that she was keeping me from the woman I wanted. My temper rose but I pushed it back. I needed her now more than ever before.

"A few months," I replied. "In the meantime, do what you need to save her from me and me from myself."

Pam stepped aside and I was out the door and in the air before my feet touched the ground.

It was early enough for Sookie to be awake so I knocked on the back door. I thought that I would tear off her clothes and ravage her until she begged me to stop. Yet when she opened the door I wanted nothing more than to just pull her into my arms, nuzzle her neck, inhale her sweet scent, and taste her lips. That was exactly what I did. I kissed her and her legs wrapped my waist as I sat on the closest chair with her straddling me. Our kisses and caresses were soft. It didn't inflame the mounting desire that had been consuming me; it soothed it. I wanted to be inside of her but holding her brought a different kind of relief to an ache I didn't know I had.

"I missed you," I confessed between kisses. "You have no fucking idea how much."

I held her beautiful face in my hands and fell into her eyes. It was that shade that confounded me the instant I set eyes on her, blue, almost turquoise, with flecks of lighter blue. They blended with a perfection that only nature could conjure.

Her fingers traced the contours of my face, "No one I asked said I was seeing anyone but when you're not here…"

I nodded. I couldn't ever remember anyone who smelled as good as her, and mixed with my scent, it was the headiest of perfumes. We maintained the slow rhythm as I began peeling off her clothes. I'd been too eager the last time to really get the full image of her body. She had no edges, just curve after womanly perfection. Her breasts, her waist, her hips and thighs, the fullness of her bottom, every bit of her was built for loving. I lifted her off my lap and sat her on the table so I could remove the last bit of clothing.

She was splayed for me, wet and waiting. I didn't know where to begin.

"Touch me," It was a desperate plea. Her voice was thick; her eyes were hooded and darkened with almost no light blue in them.

"Yes."

Sitting back in the chair I kissed my way up her leg. With every inch that brought me closer to her sex, that unrelenting pull eased. I had time tonight to indulge, to tease, but mostly to taste and I would. Teasing might have been a stretch. I couldn't, not with her wriggling and arching in demand though I had yet to taste her. When I did, I gave myself just the barest taste of her wine.

Another spark of clarity hit me as the luscious taste took over my senses. This lust-crazed period would pass but I knew if I ever had the choice to walk away, I wouldn't, not ever. I kissed her sex taking my time, watching, listening, and thrilling as she fell apart with every flick of my tongue.

Her legs were thrown over my shoulders as my hands attempted to keep her still while she bucked and arched in her throes of passion. I learned what she liked and how she liked it as her body gave me direction. I came just from having her cum in my mouth. That was a first, but I didn't care because in the time it took for me to bend her over the table I was hard again.

"Wait please…Eric baby, I can't…," She sobbed.

"Hurting?" I asked the question, watching the evidence of her pleasure dripping from her. It wasn't my blood telling me so; I just knew I couldn't hurt her.

She shook her head. "I'm…trying not to scream," She admitted breathlessly.

Judging by the way she was gripping the table, she was close. I fisted my fingers in her hair forcing her back into a sharper arch, taking myself deeper, drawing a broken moan from her. My lips were against her ear as I whispered,

"You shouldn't have said that."

I then fed the beast she had created. It reveled in her screams, her orgasms, and the sound of its' name tumbling from her lips. It took two more bouts of lovemaking in the kitchen before I was sound enough to get us to a soft surface. I meant to carry her to the bedroom but somewhere between the hallway and the bedroom door closing behind us. I had pinned her against the wall.

I'd never had a favorite sexual position until I had her there. It gave me access to all of her. Her legs wrapped around my waist, my hands palmed her ass, and her breasts bounced as we rode one another. I was able to pull the dusky tips of her breasts into my mouth, and, best of all, I was able to kiss her and look into her eyes.

We made it to the bed only to lose ourselves a few more times. I was lying between her legs with my head on her stomach. Her fingers were running through my hair, and every so often her nails grazed my scalp making me purr in pacified contentment.

"You sound like a big ole kitty cat."

I heard the smile in her voice and it brought one to mine. This was the clearest my mind had been in days and the calmest my body had been. I nipped at her navel making her laugh.

"Tina will be jealous," She said, very much amused.

If I'd heard this same comment three hours before I would have flown into a rage. Now I arched a brow in question.

"My cat," Sookie answered. "She's a feisty little thing."

I nodded and we fell back into an easy, lulled silence.

"Maybe I kept our relationship a secret for some reason," Sookie murmured a while later.

The words were speculative as if the question was directed inward. I knew I promised her an explanation. I had every intention of making good on it but I also wanted to hold onto the calmness for a while longer.

I shook my head. "The first time I ever saw you was the day I pulled you out of the car wreck," I told her. "This, what's between us, started right then."

I explained it to her as best as I could but I didn't understand much about it either, "Having my blood in your system only makes it worse."

By the furrow in her brow she didn't comprehend it either so I had to explain further. It led into me describing how the crash had come about. That brought me to the least desirable topic, the vampire hierarchy and my place within it.

"Are you listening?" I asked.

She hadn't once interrupted. Not knowing how to interpret her silence had aggravated me. The information I was providing was deathly important and I wasn't sure she'd even been paying attention.

"Four territories, Narayana, Zeus, Moshop, and Amun, which is where Louisiana's territory lies. Your Queen is Sophie-Anne, André is her Lieutenant, and you are one of her Sheriffs. That explains why instead of calling the police you were chasing after a Were high on vampire blood. All of this is secret and not for common human knowledge," She summarized. "I listen with my ears, not my eyes."

"I didn't know that," I told her.

My admission loosened the frown that had been forming on her lips and she smiled instead.

"I know the feeling," She replied wryly. "So that's why you can't be around much, work."

I'd never wanted to tell a lie so badly in my life. If it was just working that stood between us, I would be happily unemployed. There were intricate details that came with being a vampire of power that couldn't be easily explained or understood. There was the fact that I had enemies. Some of them I had earned while others marked me because of my loyalty to the Crown. There was also the fact that my world was written in blood and betrayal was as routine as taxes. Worst of all was the fact that while I wanted her, and while I felt as though she belonged to me, it wasn't nearly enough. Her telepathy meant that Sophie-Anne had some rights to her.

"Yes, and I have been trying to stay away," I admitted. "Sophie-Anne knows what you are and since you are in her State, she has some rights to you."

The climate held but as my words registered, it turned frosty. She pulled away from me. Just losing the warmth of her body from mine changed the entire atmosphere of the conversation. There was no denying that the mood had now turned combative. I didn't know if it was me feeding off of her emotions, myself alone, or her hostile glares that did it but, once again, I lost my temper.

"I haven't explained anything yet," I growled in warning. "So don't start."

"Don't start? You just told me some vampire Queen I've never met has dibs on me as if I'm a thing not a person."

"To her you aren't," I stated. "For the most part it's the way vampires see humans. When we aren't ignoring their fleeting existence, we are using their bodies to feed or fuck."

I knew I could never hurt her. Raising my hand to her in anger wasn't even a concept that my mind could process. To my surprise, it wasn't reciprocal. Sookie reached up and slapped me across my face! It didn't hurt but I wasn't used to getting slapped. She tried to leave the bed but I caught her around the waist and pulled her under me.

I pinned her wrists over my head in one hand and forced her to look at me. "I would never hit you," I said.

"You just did!" She spat, furiously.

"I told you the truth when all I wanted to do was lie!" I yelled. "That is my world and you can hate it but you are now a part of it."